Phoenix Emergent
by Matchbox Dragon
Summary: When Warren develops his second power, it is the beginning of a journey that could lead to becoming the ultimate pyro, a fire elemental.
1. Chapter 1: Inheritance

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney. _

**Chapter 1: Inheritance**

It could be said, from a certain point of view, that this story began that night at the Paper Lantern when Layla befriended Warren and set in motion certain well-known events, including the anti-social pyro's inclusion into the group of so-called misfits. But everybody knows all that, so let's fast forward to the following year, to another evening at everyone-except-Will's favorite restaurant (he _still_ hates Chinese food, poor guy).

It was Friday evening, and almost closing time. The group, minus Warren who was still working but was around somewhere, had just finished eating and the place was nearly empty.

"So, Magenta, why did it take so long asking Mr. Boy about your extra credit?" Will asked, "You almost missed the bus."

"Oh, he had to go and find out from the Principal's office or something," replied Maj, "But you'll never guess what I found on his computer while he was gone."

Layla was appalled. "You looked at Mr. Boy's personal files!"

"No, gross! It was open on Sky High Past Alumni." They regarded her with varying degrees of interest and disapproval. "I was bored stiff, okay?"

"Hey, why didn't you hack into our grades while you were at it?" asked Zach.

"Zach!" scolded Layla and Ethan in unison. Will just chuckled at his girlfriend's reaction to that suggestion.

Magenta rolled her eyes. "It's called Read Only, doofus, and besides, Alumni was the only database that was open."

"So what did you find out?" asked Zach, unfazed by her criticism, "Did Boomer flunk PE or something?"

"No, wishful thinking. But Layla, your mom once got into a lot of trouble for releasing the frogs that were part of an experiment in Mutant Biology."

Will grinned. "Yeah, I can just see that."

"Well, can you blame her?" protested Layla, fiddling with her fortune cookie, "The poor things probably told her all about what was being done to them."

"What else did you find out?" Ethan asked.

Maj paused for effect, looking around at her audience, "Well, Ethan, you know how you were so impressed that Will is a third generation super? Anybody ever asked Warren how far back _his_ power goes?"

Zach was almost shocked at that suggestion. "Uh, last time I checked, even _mentioning_ Warren's father is like saying 'Fry me!'. Even if he has, like, mellowed quite a lot the past year."

"Yeah, I'd still rather ask the Past Alumni database than him," Ethan commented as he finished his soda.

"Well, I ran out of time so I didn't get the full scoop," admitted Magenta, "But I can tell you that most of them on his dad's side come from _both_ parents, not just one. And every single one is a pyro."

"So?" said Will, "My powers come straight from my parents."

"Yeah, but it's not automatic," Ethan replied, "It's much more likely to be something similar, like the way my mom melts inanimate objects instead of herself, and Layla and her mom both have nature powers."

"Same with me and my dad," said Maj, whose father could shapeshift into a horse with a blue streak in his mane and tail. "But what about Zach? His dad's power has nothing to do with glowing." His father had microscopic vision.

"What about your grandparents then?" asked Layla, turning to Zach who was trying to fold his napkin into a swan, "Uncles, aunts?"

"Well, my dad's sister can make light bulbs come on by looking at them funny, so I guess that's related," Zach shrugged. He let go of his napkin origami and it unraveled onto Maj's empty plate.

"There you go," said Will as Zach tried to reclaim his failed artwork, "What's the big deal about Warren then?"

Magenta smacked Zach's hand and placed the napkin out of his reach before turning to Will. "I don't think you were paying attention, Will," she replied seriously, "I said _every single one_ of his Battle relatives – uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents – have exactly the same power. Plus we know his mother was a pyro too."

"That's totally fascinating," raved Ethan, "I mean, it completely defies the odds."

Zach was less enthusiastic. "Yeah, whatever man, but I don't suggest asking Warren about it."

"Ask me what?" Warren appeared at the table suddenly. They looked at one another, uncomfortable.

Zach had a moment of inspiration. "Uh, dude, you got any ideas about what I should do for the talent show?"

"Talent show?" Warren was clearly skeptical.

Zach improvised in a hurry. "Um, at the Maxville Community Center next month. So, what do you think?"

"Please don't sing," was Warren's advice.

"That's a bit harsh, man," Zach said, while the others tried not to laugh, their dilemma briefly forgotten, "I thought you were my friend."

"I said 'Please', didn't I?"

That was definitely their cue to laugh, much to Zach's chagrin. But he cheered up a moment later like he usually did, while Warren began to clear their plates and cutlery. Although he'd moved up from busboy to waiter a few months ago, he preferred to do the whole deal for his friends, knowing their unfortunate tendency to talk about superhero stuff in public. Besides, it gave him more chances to butt into their conversations, which was always fun.

Warren left for the kitchen and they started to relax, thinking he'd bought the act. But then he came straight back and leant his hands on the table, giving them a serious look.

"Okay kids, nice try. _What_ don't you suggest asking me about?"

"Uh, Ethan wanted to know, uh…" started Zach, and trailed off under Warren's questioning gaze. Warren then looked at Will, who just shrugged.

Ethan jumped in, and babbled very quickly, "Well, we were discussing how Will's powers are exactly like his parents' and his strength comes from his grandfather too, but the rest of us have only similar ones to our parents, and I was wondering if one of your mom's parents was a pyro too?"

"Both of them," replied Warren, unfazed.

"Cool, so you're third generation too."

Warren shrugged it off. "Fifth on my father's side, but who cares really."

No one had a clue what to say to that.

Warren started to leave, and then turned back and added in a low mock-conspiratorial tone, "Oh, and it comes from generations of marriages arranged by the Battle godfather." They looked confused so he rolled his eyes and explained, "The reason why pyrokinesis is so concentrated in the family."

So he did overhear their conversation. Oops.

He continued, "And you guys really shouldn't be discussing this sort of thing in public, even if it's late and the place is about to close."

With that Warren left the others to just stare at each other in astounded silence.

Zach was the first to break it. "Ooookay, was I abducted by aliens or did Warren just say something about his dad without, like, incinerating anything?"

"Not only that, but talking about his father's family," put in Ethan, "I mean, everybody knows the Battle family is like the super villain mafia."

"Like Zach said earlier, he's mellowed a lot," said Layla, remembering that even at last year's Homecoming Warren had been able to make a wry comment about his father's incarceration.

Will nodded in agreement. It did seem that Warren had come to terms with the fact that he couldn't exactly blame the Commander for putting his father in prison. Barron Battle had certainly deserved that maximum sentence for treason that he'd received when it was revealed that he had actually been an undercover agent for the super villain family all along. Betrayed by his father and abandoned by his mother – albeit unintentionally – when she died a few years later, who could blame Warren for nursing a bit of a grudge? Will was privately quite impressed about the way Warren had dealt with a lot of his issues on that score over the past year, not to mention being relieved that there weren't problems between his father and his best friend anymore. The group of friends were still working on Warren's anti-social tendencies, though.

"Yeah," Magenta also agreed with Layla's statement, "Like, how was that little discussion the other day about who'd caused the most destruction of school property during the infamous cafeteria fight?"

The others all grinned, remembering that particular conversation. Anybody who didn't know Warren would probably have thought he was being absolutely serious when he told Will off for having taken all the credit. His friends, however, were getting more used to his dry sense of humor by now.

Will decided it was about time to change the subject. "So, guys, shall we go or shall we stick around until Warren has to kick us out?"

"Like usual," put in Zach.

"Or like that lady over there," Ethan commented. They all looked over at the only other remaining patron who was parked in the back of a corner booth. The woman, who was probably in her 30s, was twisting some napkins between the tense fingers of one hand. The other one was toying with the stem of her wine glass which was the focus of her somewhat glazed stare.

"She looks a little attached to her wine glass," Magenta observed. The woman drained her glass and set it down next to her purse and jacket on the table, before going back to torturing the napkins.

"Maybe she got stood up," said Warren, appearing from nowhere yet again. "It's a tradition in this place, you know." He smirked at Will who hit him (lightly, thank goodness, but he still almost lost his balance) while Layla gave him a supposedly menacing look that had no effect whatsoever. "Not that I'd blame the guy; she's been pretty unpleasant all evening," he added.

The woman in question seemed to decide it was time to leave. She threw the napkins on the table and started to slide out of the booth, but her purse strap was looped around the candle. She gave her purse a tug and the candle toppled, still lit. Things probably wouldn't have gotten out of hand if she hadn't panicked and tried to pull harder on her purse, bringing the candle flame into contact with the bundled napkins on the table.

She screamed as the fire spread from the napkins to her jacket on the table, which effectively cornered her in the booth.

By this stage Warren had reached the table.

Mr. and Mrs. Wu came out from the back just in time to witness something incredible.

Warren reached out and touched the burning jacket. Eight pairs of eyes watched in disbelief as the fire seemed to just disappear into his hand. Then he stretched his other hand to the napkins and purse, and once again simply absorbed the flames. The fire was completely extinguished in less than five seconds.

"I didn't know he could do that, man!" whispered Zach.

Will was just as stunned. "I don't think _he_ knew he could do that!"

The woman stared at Warren, equally flabbergasted. The pyro stepped back a few paces and sat down hard at the next table. He was staring at his hands.

"That's-That's not his power, you know," Ethan stammered, "That has to be something else."

"Maybe Will's not the only person around here with two powers," suggested Layla as they finally managed to get over the shock that had immobilized them, and hurried over to where Warren was sitting.

They could now see what he was staring at. Tendrils of red were spreading from his pulse points in a pattern that looked a lot like the pyro tattoos on his outer wrists. As the fire designs etched themselves into his skin with a painful hiss, Warren muttered something in Chinese that was evidently less than polite considering the stern look it earned him from Mr. Wu.

It was probably the only time in his life that Warren had felt the pain of getting burnt, Layla thought sympathetically. Apart from when he'd gotten his first set of tattoos to accompany his original powers, of course.

Mrs. Wu, in the meantime, had enough practical sense to be concerned about dealing with their little security breach.

"I must be more drunk than I thought," said the woman dazedly as Mrs. Wu helped her to her feet carefully. She was still staring at Warren. "I could swear…"

"Let me call you a cab, ma'am," offered the Chinese woman.

"Yeah, that would be nice…" the woman trailed off even more vaguely as Mrs. Wu led her out to the reception area of the restaurant. Hopefully, the shaken and somewhat inebriated witness wouldn't have too much trouble buying some sort of cover story.

Meanwhile Warren was running his fingers lightly over the completed fire tattoos on his inner wrists.

"You okay, Warren?" asked Will.

But the pyro's attention was far away. What had happened to the fire he had just absorbed? He could feel his temperature was higher than usual, similar to when he powered up. Maybe…

He held up one hand and concentrated. A moment later it ignited, and he knew that this was not fire he'd generated himself, even if it looked exactly the same.

The others didn't quite follow the significance of what he'd just done. Mr. Wu, however, seemed to catch on. He said something in Chinese and Warren nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it looks like I got a bit of my mom's powers too."


	2. Chapter 2: Legacy

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney. _

**Chapter 2: Legacy**

Mr. and Mrs. Wu insisted that they would clean up the mess and close the restaurant, and told the teenagers to go home. It was very close to their collective curfews, but no one was at all keen on leaving. In the end Warren gave up trying to get them to go, and they all trooped upstairs to his apartment after saying goodnight to the restaurant owners.

Old family friends and retired sidekicks themselves, Mr. and Mrs. Wu had kept an eye on Warren since his mother died when he was fourteen, poisoned by an arch-enemy who, ironically, was totally unrelated to her ex-husband's family. Before finally succumbing to the toxin, Zoë Peace had been able to organize Warren's future education, sufficient trust funds and for him to be allowed to continue living in their apartment above the Paper Lantern, even though he was still underage at the time.

Warren let his friends in. For Ethan, Zach and Magenta, this was the first time they had visited his apartment, so of course they were fascinated about _that_ as well as what had happened that evening. Warren ran a hand through his hair and sat down on the couch, but the others seemed too excited to make themselves comfortable. The whole group of them, even Will, were a bit too hyped up for Warren's liking. He was starting to get a little uncomfortable with all the attention, but he was doing his best to stay reasonably calm.

"So this came from your mom then?" asked Will, finally sitting down on the couch next to him.

"Yeah, but this isn't how pyro-psionic power works normally," Warren replied. "My mom manipulated fire without ever absorbing it."

"So your mother was a pyro-psionic and your father's pyrokinetic?" Ethan asked.

Warren just nodded.

"Whoa, back up a bit, guys," said Zach. He and Maj were sitting back to back on the floor, each being the other's backrest. "Like, what's a pyro-sy-whatever?"

Ethan gave Warren a hopeful look. The pyro rolled his eyes and gestured to him that he might as well do his Professor thing.

"Well, the pyro powers basically fall into two divisions, depending on whether the fire is generated internally or controlled externally. A pyrokinetic creates fire and controls, to a certain extent, fire of his own creation."

"Or _her_," interjected Layla, like usual.

"On the other hand," Ethan continued, pacing like he was delivering a lecture, "A pyro-psionic can't create flames, but has almost complete control over fire from an external source, within certain limitations of course."

"Whoa." This was all a bit much for Zach. "Information overload, dude." He stood up suddenly, causing Maj to fall over. Needless to say, she was less than amused.

"I had no idea there was more than one kind of fire power," admitted Will.

"Well, now you've learnt something new today. You can draw a little smiley face on your calendar." Magenta had adopted her usual stance of pretending not to be impressed about the whole affair, although everybody knew it was only an act. She turned to Warren, having noticed something else, "Is it just me or do you have more bits of red in your hair now?"

"Yeah, the extra streaks came with the new tattoos. It's a package deal."

"I think it's all quite symbolic," said Layla out of the blue. They all looked at her. "Well, think about it. He got his second power, which was from his mom who was a _hero_, during the course of saving some arbitrary person he didn't really care much about. I mean, that's what real heroes do, right? Save the people on the street a lot more often than the people they love."

She beamed at Warren who was trying very hard not to show how touched he was by her belief in him, with a distinct lack of success.

Ethan, meanwhile, had been looking around at Warren's décor. Apart from the couch, there was not much furniture in the living room area apart from the coffee table which Layla was leaning against. It was wooden and the top was inlaid with an exotic design of a bird with a flaming tail. The main decoration on the walls was a series of Chinese ink paintings depicting the life cycle of the mythical phoenix, each image rendered in a few simple but effective brushstrokes.

"You're right, Layla," said Ethan, "There's definitely something symbolic going on here. I mean, I'd have expected more Chinese fire-breathing dragons, but Warren seems to go for the phoenix motif."

"Yeah, like that shirt he's got," put in Zach, who was relieved to be able to follow the conversation again. He sat down on the floor a safe distance from his girlfriend, on the other side of Layla.

"My mom was Firebird, Popsicle," replied Warren. "It stands to reason."

Ethan shook his head. "It's more than just that. The phoenix is the symbol of a fire elemental."

"No." said Warren, sharply. He knew exactly where Ethan was going. "Stop right there."

"Fire elemental?" asked Will.

"The ultimate fire user who has complete control over all fire in their vicinity, both internally and externally generated," Ethan responded with a textbook answer.

"In other words, someone who is both pyrokinetic and pyro-psionic?" Layla glanced at Warren and raised her eyebrows significantly.

Warren gave Ethan a look that once would have sent him melting, but it didn't seem to work so well these days. "No, there's one or two other aspects as well. Besides, I'm not even a proper 'psionic, so you might as well give up on the idea."

"Actually, that's part of what makes it so fascinating," continued Ethan, undaunted, "It's like your mom's pyro-psionic power has somehow merged with your original pyrokinesis."

"Yeah, fascinating," replied Warren, deadpan, "Don't you kids have a curfew or something?"

That turned out to be a pretty good tactic for deflecting their attention. Not only did they start making exit plans, they also had a new topic of conversation, namely Zach complaining (like usual) that Warren had no business calling them 'kids' considering he was only two years older than the rest of them and they weren't little freshmen anymore, etc etc.

It wasn't that Warren didn't like them, quite the opposite in fact, but they could be a bit much at times. For the most part he preferred the company of just either Will or Layla, or the whole gang only in small doses.

They all said goodbye at the door and started down the stairs, except for Will, who noticed that Warren had taken out a box of matches.

"What's with the matches?" he asked, and then realized, "Oh, you're going to try out your new power, what did you call it?"

"Pyro-psionics. And yeah, I thought that might be a plan."

"Mind if I stay and watch?"

"Stronghold, would you mind being a gentleman and take your girlfriend home, huh?" said Warren a little more harshly than he intended.

Will was unfazed by his tone. "Oh sure, of course. But can I come back then?"

"If you absolutely must," sighed Warren, but he wasn't really all that averse to the idea. When he had gotten his pyrokinetic power, his mother had been there to calm his fears and help him get the hang of his potentially destructive ability. Of course, he wasn't nine years old anymore, but still, having some company didn't sound so bad.

He sat for a while after Will left, just enjoying the first silence he'd had for hours. Tracing an index finger over one of his new tattoos, he couldn't help wishing his mom could have seen this.

With a sigh he forced himself out of his brooding and picked up the box of matches. He lit one, but before he could do anything with it, it was blown out by a rush of air caused by someone arriving through the open window behind him.

"That was quick," he commented without looking around at his visitor.

"I can fly pretty fast." Will said modestly.

Warren shot him a sidelong glance. "Quick goodnight kiss too."

Will sat a small distance away, on the arm of the couch, evidently wanting to stay a bit out of the danger zone. "Uh, well, I didn't want you to burn the place down without me." Warren snorted at that suggestion. "Actually, that was what Layla said."

Warren said nothing as he lit a match. He touched the flame with his index finger and absorbed it.

As he took another one out of the box, a thought suddenly occurred to Will. "Why would you, of all people, keep a supply of matches?"

"Just in case. If my core temperature drops below about 150 I can't power up." Warren struck the match, and this time decided to try absorbing the fire from a distance.

"Oh," said Will, "I didn't know that."

The flame flew from the match straight to Warren's other hand where it was absorbed.

"Not something they teach in Mad Science until junior year." On the other hand, his new power seemed to raise his temperature, at least until he used the fire he'd absorbed.

"So, next time I wanna pick a fight with you it should be sometime when we're at the North Pole in the dead of winter, right?"

"Sure, if you can think of some reason for me to be there. Of course, now that you've warned me, I'll make sure to pack a Zippo lighter."

Will was about to ask how much good a lighter would be against so much cold, but his train of thought was interrupted by Warren tossing two lit matches up into the air. He jumped in surprise and fell off the arm of the couch, while Warren nonchalantly extinguished both matches long before they reached the floor.

"Are you psycho or something?" exclaimed Will as he got to his feet.

"Relax, Flyboy," Warren grinned, "For obvious reasons, everything in this place is fireproof. Including the two of us."

They'd discovered during their infamous cafeteria fight that Will was invulnerable to fire in much the same way as Warren was unharmed by flying through solid brick walls. Well, physically unharmed anyway. He did admit that it had hurt like hell.

Warren calmly lit another match and carried on with his experimenting. Will had to admit to himself, if not out loud, that he was quite impressed with the degree of control Warren had over his new power already. After all, when Will had first gotten his super-strength he'd accidentally re-designed his front doorway.

As Will watched the next few matches get rapidly extinguished, he mused over Warren's latest nickname for him. He often wondered if his friend was incapable of calling anybody by their first name unless things were extremely serious. Layla was positive that Warren's nicknaming tendency was a sign of affection, but he wasn't quite so sure. Plus he'd noticed that no one was allowed to assign Warren any sort of epithet, Boomer's 'Hothead' being the only exception and that was largely because there was little he could do about it.

He had an idea. "I don't suppose you can do it around corners, huh?"

His friend frowned slightly, thinking over the suggestion, and then decided it was worth a try. But it didn't take long to prove that any sort of barrier prevented him from using his new power.

"Now, a proper pyro-psionic wouldn't have a problem with that," Warren commented lightly. He wasn't particularly troubled about the limitation; he was just trying to make his point about Ethan's theory.

After some more practicing, Warren could absorb the flame so quickly Will couldn't even see where it had gone. It seemed to just disappear.

* * *

By Sunday evening Ethan had done some research into fire elementals, which made him even more convinced Warren was one, or at least in the process of becoming one. Warren was equally convinced that Ethan was living in a dream world, particularly considering there were no fire elementals in existence and there hadn't been for about two hundred years.

They were gathered in the Strongholds' living room. Ethan pored over his research notes on the coffee table next to a bowl of popcorn, which Zach was eating in between bouncing off the walls (not literally, but pretty close). Warren was sitting on the one couch and Maj and Will were on the other, with Layla perched on the arm next to Will.

Warren had joined the group for this little get-together, something he didn't always do, because he was hoping to get them to curb their excitement before Monday morning. So far with little success.

"I can't wait till they find out at school tomorrow!" said Zach. "That'll put that overheated show-off in his place, when he finds out Warren's got one on him!"

The person in question was junior by the name of Brett Simmonds, a pyrokinetic and a complete jerk. He often picked on kids in the hero support classes, although he had the sense not to mess with Will's friends. There wasn't a whole lot Will or Warren could do to stop him without it turning into a full-scale war, considering threats didn't work and the last fight between the two pyros had resulted in a no-score draw and a week of detention. After that, Layla had forbidden both Will and Warren from getting into any more fights, even if they were trying to defend someone.

"No, wait," said Will in response to Zach's comment, sharing a mischievous glance with Warren, "If he _doesn't_ know about Warren's new power …"

"… We can have some fun confusing his little brain," finished the pyro.

"But, but, but, it would be so cool for him to find out he's not so hot after all," objected Zach, taking some popcorn and deflating onto the couch next to Warren.

"Yeah, but then what?" Magenta answered from the opposite couch, "You'll have your moment and then it'll be over. I say draw out the torture as long as possible."

"Wait a minute," Ethan said, looking up from his research, "What exactly are you guys suggesting?"

"Picture the scene, Popsicle," said Warren, who was getting into the idea. He leaned forward, with his elbows on his knees. "Simmonds starts threatening some unfortunate kid, he powers up and – oops, where's all my fire gone?"

"Can you _do_ that?" asked Ethan.

Warren smirked. "Is Layla vegetarian?"

"Leave me out of your nefarious plotting," objected Layla from her perch on the couch arm, but she smiling. She was keen on the idea of putting the bully in his place without stooping to his level of violence.

"Look, obviously, there are some limitations," Warren continued, "For one thing, I worked out that I need to have line-of-sight."

"While staying _out_ of sight," put in Magenta.

"Or at least, out of notice," Ethan gestured with the pen he was using to make notes.

"Yeah, 'cos Warren's just such an unnoticeable guy," replied Zach sarcastically.

"But everybody knows Warren's talent is for starting fires, not extinguishing them," said Layla, leaning forward with a knowing smile, "People see what they expect to see. Even if it's right under their noses."

* * *

_A/N: Huge thanks to the people who reviewed! Your support means so much to me._


	3. Chapter 3: Save the Sidekicks

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney. _

**Chapter 3: Save the Sidekicks**

It didn't take Brett Simmonds too long to figure out something was going on.

It started on Monday when he was walking to his Super-math class and some overeager sidekick ran straight into him. With no teachers in the corridor, this was open season for a roasting and the nerd knew it, judging from the expression on his face. He powered up, the kid looked even more scared, if that was possible, and then … zip. His flames just vanished.

He looked around in confusion, and the little nerd took his chance to make a getaway, almost running into Stronghold and Peace who happened to be walking by.

On Tuesday it was time to collect his Geography assignment on Natural Disasters Requiring Superhero Intervention from the schmuck who'd written it for him. Being a sidekick, the geek didn't even take the class; he did the extra research in his spare time. But this week he had some lame excuse about being too busy with his own homework on First Aid For Your Hero In The Field.

Apparently, the kid needed to learn something about priorities. But that valuable lesson got cut short when Brett's fire was mysteriously extinguished again. A few seconds later Peace clapped a hand that seemed unusually warm on his shoulder and told him cheerfully that was what happened to people who abused their powers. Of course the smartass just _had_ to be there to witness his embarrassment and he just _had_ to rub his nose in it.

That was twice in two days and he was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with him, so on Wednesday he reluctantly went to see Nurse Spex. To his frustration his powers worked just fine then, and he didn't even get a lollipop because there was obviously nothing wrong with him.

On Thursday he spotted one of his favorite victims, the pretty blond sidekick who could change into a big red, white and green ball. She was a lot of fun to threaten because she would turn into a ball to escape being burnt and then he'd bounce her down the corridor. Apart from the amusement, there was also a personal element to the way he treated her. He'd once lowered his standards enough to ask her out, and she'd turned him down – told him that just because he had fire powers didn't make him hot. It was _unbelievable_ that she didn't find him attractive. He was tall, well-built and, like her, a natural blonde. Plus, no sidekick had any business not being grateful for attention from a hero.

She was walking to the library alone, which was definitely an invitation for him. He made his usual dramatic entrance, and she gave her standard edgy response. He powered up, she dropped her book bag in preparation to transform, his flames disappeared and so did her fear. She calmly picked up her bag and carried on to the library. As Brett turned to look after her down the deserted corridor, he thought he saw a flash of black leather out of the corner of his eye.

Now he was positive someone was deliberately interfering with his powers. And he had a growing suspicion Peace was involved. He was so often at the scene of the crime, plus the former bad boy had once picked a fight with him about using his powers against the weaker kids.

But Warren Peace was a pyrokinetic like him, everyone knew that. No, it had to be someone with fire-neutralizing powers; yeah, maybe it was that Freeze-Girl Warren was dating for a while.

Except she emigrated last year. Oh, right.

The final straw was lunchtime on Friday. There he was, minding his own business trying to score some extra lunch money. He had this tried and tested method of turning one wimp's lunch into charcoal as an object lesson to the others at the table. He was careful to work the intimidation factor while making sure he didn't cause too much damage to school property – after that fight with Peace he'd had enough detention to last a while, thanks. Often, all he had to do was lean on the table with his sleeves rolled up. The kids took one look at the menacing pyro tattoo that wound around his right forearm up to his elbow (so what if Peace had one on each arm; his was _much_ more cool) and handed over the cash straight away.

But now and then there would be some wannabe hero who'd try to stand up to him. Like this kid who looked even dorkier than the one in Stronghold's geek squad. Speaking of one of Stronghold's friends … Brett looked around quickly, but Peace wasn't anywhere in sight.

However, his mystery nemesis evidently was. The moment he powered up, his fire disappeared. But he had a rep. to protect so there was no way he was going to let this one go in front of all these witnesses. He tried again, with the same result. He glared at his flame-free hands.

The little brats started giggling and Brett looked up, furious. Sure enough, there was Peace … and Stronghold, leaning on either side of the square support column they'd obviously just been hiding behind. They shook their heads in mock sympathy and casually strolled out of the cafeteria.

Now Brett had had enough.

He caught up with them at the lockers. "Look, I know you two know what's been going on."

"Really?" asked Will innocently, sharing a glance and a shrug with Warren, "What's been going on?"

Brett regarded Warren suspiciously, "Well, no one's been messing with _you_, so you must be in league with whoever it is. And you're always around when it happens, so I reckon you're the one who gives the tip-off."

"Interesting logic, Simmonds," replied the other pyro sarcastically, leaning against his locker, "I _like_ the way you think."

"So, what makes you think we'd tell you anything?" Will challenged. He closed his locker with a bang that made the rest of the lockers rattle a bit.

"Here's the deal: I win Save the Citizen today, you tell me how who's been messing with my powers, and they stop it."

"And if we win," replied Will, not wanting to waste the opportunity, "You leave the sidekicks alone."

"Deal!" Brett stuck out his hand. Warren just smirked.

Will shook. It took all his self control to not crush the jerk's hand.

* * *

It wasn't that surprising, come to think about it, that Brett chose Save the Citizen as his battleground. He and his partner, Jerry Holme a.k.a. Carbon Copy Kid, had been on a winning streak lately. Possibly the fact that they'd been pretty cunning in their choice of opponents had something to do with it. 

"Stronghold, Hothead, these knuckleheads have issued the challenge," announced Boomer, who was evidently enjoying himself like usual, "As reigning champions, you get to choose; I expect you want to be heroes like usual?"

"Actually, we'd like to try being villains for a change," replied Will offhandedly. A chorus of 'oooh's rippled through the spectators in the stands.

"Ooookay," the coach made a note on his ever-present clipboard, "You know the rules, Stronghold. One power only - I wanna see your feet on the ground the whole time."

Will and Warren shared an amused glance at the reminder of the new rule Boomer had instituted in the hope of giving the other kids a fighting chance against them. Not that it helped much.

Boomer gave the usual spiel and the countdown began. Brett took up an aggressive stance, ready for business. Jerry waited tensely for the action to begin so he could decide who to mimic in order to cause the most confusion.

The champions, however, leaned casually against the edge of the mulcher.

"So, Warren," Will said conversationally, "What do you think of the new Super-Suit Calendar?"

"Way better than the last one," replied Warren, "I really rate February."

"And how about that – " started Will but he was interrupted.

"Hey!" yelled Brett. "This isn't lunch break! Power up!"

"You first," Warren replied calmly.

The other pyro ignited his hands. Warren regarded him for a few seconds. He stepped slightly in front of Will and crossed his arms across his chest as if he was powering up, but when he flung out his hands there were no flames. Brett watched in horror as his fire left his hands and flew into Warren's waiting grasp. Before he could recover from the shock of finding out who his secret non-admirer was, Warren threw the stolen fire back at him, knocking him off his feet. There was a cheer from the stands and Boomer wondered idly if he should stop the match. Nah.

"It was _you_?" Brett couldn't believe it. "But you can't do that."

"Surprise," smirked Warren.

Brett powered up again and Warren just shook his head. "You're a sucker for punishment."

As Warren pulled the same trick again, Magenta turned to the rest of the group in the stands. "Hey, what about Boomer's One-Power-Only rule? Won't Warren get them disqualified?"

"No," replied Layla who had been watching carefully for exactly that. "He's only using pyro-psionics."

"That's why he needed Brett to power up first," added Ethan.

Brett wasn't exactly a fast learner but he soon realized Warren had the upper hand. He tried to go for Will instead, only to have his fire stolen and returned rather violently yet again by Warren.

It was time for Jerry to pitch in. Shape-shifting into a copy of Will, he came up to Warren as Brett was picking himself up off the floor.

"Nice save, Warren, thanks," said 'Will'.

"So, who's your favorite?" asked Warren without breaking eye contact with Brett.

"Favorite what?"

"September, the spandex babe," called the real Will from his post next to the mulcher, and Jerry realized he was busted.

Warren took his eyes off Brett for a second to give the shape-shifter a nasty grin as he backed out of firing range, morphing back into himself. Luckily for Jerry, Warren couldn't power up until Brett did, and the other pyrokinetic was getting a lot more cautious.

Meanwhile, Magenta had picked up on Will and Warren's conversation. "What's the story with this Super-Suit Calendar? It's disgusting!"

"Whoa, Maj," said Zach, "You sound just like Layla." The fact that Zach didn't immediately agree with her was a sign that their on-again-off-again relationship was in yet another off-again phase. However, apart from a few small clues it was hard to tell, so their friends never took their fights any more seriously than they did.

Layla answered, "Funnily enough, it doesn't really bother me."

"You and Will fighting or something?" asked Ethan, concerned.

She shrugged. "No point in getting fussed over a calendar that doesn't exist."

"Oh, they're _bluffing_," realized Ethan, "Right, got it."

"Damn!" Zach exclaimed, "I was gonna ask where I could get one." And then both Magenta and Layla hit him.

At this point Warren and Brett were having something of a staring contest behind Will. The situation was a bit like a typical scene from a Western movie, where the two gunslingers are standing with their hands hovering over their guns, tensely waiting to see who's quickest on the draw. Will checked the remaining time (60 seconds) and waved to Layla and his friends while he was at it. Jerry took advantage of his distracted attention to morph into Warren, and went up to Will at the mulcher.

"Hey, Will."

Will pretended not to notice that 'Warren' had called him by his first name. "So what do you think of June?"

"Yeah, she's a real hottie," improvised 'Warren'.

"Actually, June's twins," Will replied casually before punching him.

"Hey, my man!" cheered Zach as Jerry went flying into the Perspex side barrier, and then he turned to the others. "Reckon that Carbon Copy Klutz should be a sidekick just like us. I mean, what good's his power now they're not fooled by him?"

"Well, we all know how he got to be a hero," Ethan commented darkly, referring to their Power Placement where Jerry had morphed into the coach, "And to think Boomer accused _me_ of kissing up."

"Actually, he could be quite useful in hero support," remarked Layla.

"Except for the fact that he'd be in our class," Ethan pointed out

"No, I mean in a real saving-the-world situation. If they were in danger, he could imitate his hero and the villain wouldn't know who to attack."

"Or even better," suggested Maj with her trademark sarcasm, "He could trick the villain into attacking _him_ so his hero could make a dashing and courageous retreat."

The end of the countdown drew their attention back to the game.

Five, four, three, two, one … and the citizen was history.

The crowd cheered their reigning champions, even though it was their easiest victory ever. The defeated duo slouched off to the showers while Will and Warren exchanged high fives with Zach and Ethan. Magenta gave them a rare genuine smile and Layla hugged them both before stepping back to stand between Ethan and Maj.

Funny, thought Warren, Stronghold and Layla didn't seem so lovey-dovey lately, but they didn't appear to be fighting either. He was pretty sure he'd hear all about it from both of them (separately) if they were.

Warren's musing was interrupted by a voice behind him. "I'm sure you know about that school rule that requires you to disclose any changes to your powers." Warren turned around to face Boomer, trying his best innocent expression. "Don't you, Mr. Peace?"

Damn. If Boomer was calling him by name, he was seriously in for it.

* * *

And so Warren got what would be the final detention of his high school career. He'd tried to plead mitigating circumstances, he'd tried to feign ignorance about the rule, he'd even pointed out that he'd done the school a favor considering the faculty obviously weren't either willing or able to do anything about the sidekick harassment problem. 

He reflected that it was possibly the last argument that had sealed his fate for the next two hours.

Warren took out his homework with a satisfied smile as he remembered the look on Simmonds' face when he found himself neutralized, and settled down to finish his assignment on Cracking Super Villain Passwords And Secret Codes.

It was worth the small price of a couple of hours in detention. Oh yeah.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks again for the great reviews. Oh, and Celestial Pendent must have been psychic… ;)_


	4. Chapter 4: Warren Peacemaker

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney. _

**Chapter 4: Warren Peacemaker**

Warren was beginning to wonder if he should add to the sign outside the Paper Lantern: Chinese restaurant _and relationship counseling_. After all, last year this was where he'd offered Layla a sympathetic ear and told Stronghold to get with the program. And now, almost every evening for four weeks after the anti-Simmonds Save the Citizen match, either Will or Layla would be there, seeking more advice than food from their favorite waiter.

And yet, they still weren't actually _fighting_ as such. They were perfectly friendly towards each other, no undercurrent of tension or anything. They were still best friends; that much hadn't changed. It was just that the romance aspect of their relationship seemed to have fizzled, although they desperately tried to keep up the act for their friends, and also for one other.

Will and Layla were each afraid that they were the only one who felt that way, and that the other would be extremely hurt to find out they were no longer romantically interesting. Warren spent a lot of time wishing that there was some way he could tell each of them not to worry, that they both felt the same way, but without betraying their trust. All he could do was encourage them to level with each other.

Finally one afternoon after school they decided to take his advice and have a very honest discussion. But the truth often hurts, even if it's what you're expecting to hear, and neither of them ended up particularly happy campers.

The first Warren heard of the latest development was when he almost ran into a girl from Layla's hero support class, Kate, he thought her name was, coming out of the girls' bathroom. The concerned brunette told him Layla was in there crying her eyes out.

Magenta arrived on the scene just then and as she went into the bathroom she gave him a look that suggested she held him personally responsible for Layla's heartache. _Her_ advice had been that it wasn't necessary for Will and Layla to actually break up. Instead they should just go for the on-again-off-again system that worked so well for her and Zach. Yeah right.

Despite their difference of opinion, however, Maj evidently told Layla that he was there. The tearful redhead came out of the bathroom and threw herself into his arms before he had a chance to say a word. He just held her as she sobbed.

"I don't know why I'm so upset," she sniffed when she could speak again, "I mean, it's how I wanted him to feel. I didn't _want_ him to still be in love with me."

"Not nice to hear him actually say the words, though, right?"

"No. And Warren, I think I really hurt his feelings too."

That, at least, was something he could reassure her about. "He'll get over it," he said gently, "I'm not being insensitive. I just … _know_ he'll be okay."

Layla pulled back and wiped her eyes. She sat down against the wall with her arms wrapped around her knees. "He's been going to you for advice and stuff too, hasn't he?" She looked up at Warren who nodded, reluctantly. She looked back down at her knees. "You could have been a little less subtle about it."

"Huh?" He sat down next to her.

"You could have just told us to break up and get it over with. It would have been much easier, you know, and this whole mess would have been over faster. Instead you were all 'Tell him the truth, Layla, you really need to be honest with each other'."

Warren took a deep breath. "So, you'd prefer it if I'd tried to run your lives for you?" he said a bit caustically, "Or, even better, if I'd just repeated to you all the personal stuff he'd _confided_ in me? Oh and vice versa, of course, to make it fair."

She thought that through quickly. "Okay, when you put it like that, no. But still, oh, I don't know." She buried her head in her arms.

"You're gonna be okay, Hippie. I promise." He slid an arm around her shoulders and she gave him a wan smile before resting her head on his shoulder.

Magenta came out of the bathroom and leaned on the doorframe. She was about to make some sort of comment when something attracted her attention. Warren looked up as she cleared her throat, and followed her gaze. He caught sight of Will turning on his heel and stalking off at the other end of the corridor.

Warren and Maj shared a knowing glance. He gave Layla's shoulders a final squeeze and handed her over to Magenta's care, before heading off after Will.

He found him sitting on the front steps of the school, facing away from him. Warren walked a bit down the stairs and stood a few steps below Will, right in his field of vision, but his friend stared past his shoulder.

Warren was about to ask how long the childish silent treatment was going to last, when Will said, "So. Whose side are you really on, Warren?"

"It's not a question of taking sides, Will," Warren sighed, "You both wanted to talk to me about it, that's all."

Will looked at him and shook head in disbelief. He got up and started walking down the stairs, and the pyro fell into step. "It must have been really funny for you, knowing both sides of the story while we were going crazy trying to guess what each other was thinking."

"Try extremely frustrating. I just wanted to tell you to get it over with, but I couldn't."

Will sighed and looked away.

"Look," Warren continued, "I've been her shoulder to cry on. To make it fair, you can also –"

Will stopped dead. "I do _not_ need a shoulder to _cry_ on!" he snapped, incensed.

"I'm so relieved to hear that," Warren replied dryly over his shoulder as he kept walking, "but if it makes you feel better, you can hit me."

Will went from outraged to incredulous at the same speed he could fly. "You're offering to let me hit you?" He caught up with Warren quickly. "With my super-strength?"

"If it makes you feel better."

"It won't make _you_ feel too good," Will pointed out.

"Yeah, but we worked out long ago that our powers protect us from being harmed by each other, so..."

"You're a really good friend, Warren, making an offer like that," Will said with a small smile. The two of them stopped near the buses. "Sorry I accused you of taking sides against me."

Warren shrugged it off, relieved that _that_ little issue was cleared up.

And then Will hit him.

Ah. So this is what flying is like, thought Warren.

* * *

"You _let_ him hit you?" Layla couldn't quite believe what he had just told her. "You actually _offered_?"

The librarian, Mrs. Jerome, looked at her sharply and she smiled sweetly in apology before turning back to Warren for an answer. She'd barely stepped off the bus that morning when she heard some insane story that Will Stronghold had hit his best friend and sent him flying, and he didn't even get detention for it. All of which, unlikely as it was, appeared to be true.

Warren looked up from his Hero History assignment research (The Greek Heroes – Super-Powers Or Super Myths?) and shrugged. "He needed to blow off some steam. It's only fair I should do something to help him too, considering I let you cry all over my leather jacket."

"It's waterproof," she pointed out as she sat down.

"And I'm Stronghold-proof," Warren countered.

"So am I, now." Warren gave her a look, and so did Mrs. Jerome, although for completely different reasons, so she added more quietly, "I'm totally over him."

He just kept looking at her with mild skepticism, waiting patiently for what he knew was the truth.

Layla sighed. Of course he wouldn't let her get away with it. "Oh all right, I'm not. But I will be."

Warren acknowledged her confession with a slight smile. She decided it was time to change the subject. "Um, where exactly did you land?" The rumor hadn't provided much speculation on that point.

"I didn't," he replied with a straight face, but his eyes were full of humor, "He was nice enough to come and catch me after I went over the edge of the school."

Layla was speechless, which was probably a good thing because if she'd able to open her mouth she would have been permanently kicked out of the library for yelling. She just shook her head and decided to leave him to his homework, while she tried to think up some appropriate revenge, uh, punishment for the two guys for freaking her out like that.

* * *

The next few months saw some re-adjustment for the group, but Will and Layla managed to go back to being friends remarkably easily. Possibly, Layla reflected, because that was what they had really been all along, underneath the distraction of that mutual crush.

By February 14, Layla had recovered to the extent that it didn't hurt at all when Will got masses of Valentines … especially when he invited her to help build a bonfire out of them in his backyard. Warren lit the fire and the three of them sat roasting marshmallows, possibly an unfair fate for the groupies' efforts (not to mention somewhat ungrateful) but nonetheless an appropriate way for single friends to celebrate the occasion.

* * *

Warren looked up at the sound of a scream, amused. Even if it was quite late after school and there weren't many students left in the library, there was no way Mrs. Jerome would allow that kind of noise in her domain. She still gave Layla an uptight look whenever she saw her, and that little 'disruption' had been months ago.

A moment later he saw the reason for the person's alarm. There was a ribbon of fire about two feet long and shaped like a slender dragon, darting through the air between the shelves at the far end of the room.

Whoa.

It was a flame construct, a non-living creature of fire that carried out the commands of the pyro who created it. This one's purpose, apparently, was to find someone or something. With each rippling movement of the fiery animation as it searched, the librarian shrieked and the few remaining students cowered and ducked under the tables.

Warren didn't move. It helped to be fire-resistant.

Plus, he was extremely curious. Pyro-construction was very rare, so rare that Mad Science didn't even cover the subject. The talent was basically a crossover between the internal and external pyro powers. The fire was created internally like a pyrokinetic, but the pyro had complete control over the flame construct, a characteristic more similar to a pyro-psionic. If there was a pyro-constructor in the school, why hadn't he heard about him or her?

The construct seemed to have located its target. Him.

He stood up and held out a hand to it, largely to encourage it to keep a safe distance from his books which weren't as fireproof as he was. The flame dragon curled up into a tight circle over his palm, and as it hovered there the fire transformed into a flickering image. In the flames he saw someone whisper 'Help'.

It was that girl from Layla's class, what was her name – Kate? Who would have thought she was a pyro, let alone such an unusual kind. And if she could create flame constructs, what the hell was she doing in hero support?

Not that any of that was actually relevant right now. The flames rippled, and the fiery image showed some more of the scene. Layla and the rest of their class were there too, along with … six figures in dark cloaks. One of them pulled back his hood to reveal a flame tattoo down the side of his sneering face.

Warren swore in Chinese, grateful that Mrs. Jerome, who was peeking nervously from behind the next shelf, had no idea what he had just said.

He had never met them, but there was no doubt who they were. His super villain relatives from the dark side of his family.

And they were in the school.

* * *

_A/N: I probably will only be able to update early in November – sorry! Hope you can all handle the suspense until then… ;)_


	5. Chapter 5: Battle Plan

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney. _

**Chapter 5: Battle Plan**

_About 10 minutes earlier…_

It was hours after school and this was the last place the sophomore sidekick class really wanted to be. Of course they were grateful that Mr. Boy had given them the opportunity to take a make-up test after most of them failed the Gadgets For Hero Support mid-term, but that didn't mean they had to actually _enjoy_ it.

Suddenly the classroom door was blown open by a fireball and all the bad grades in the world seemed like insignificant problems.

Five men in black cloaks and hoods stalked into the room. Mr. Boy jumped up from his desk and ran behind the blackboard to change. He re-emerged in costume a second later and stood protectively between the intruders and his pupils. A sixth villain appeared, dragging an unconscious school bus driver – evidently their reluctant ticket to Sky High – and threw him down next to the desk, an action which revealed pyro tattoos on the backs of his hands.

"Guess who they're related to," murmured Magenta, but her sympathy for their friend was obvious despite her customary sarcasm.

"Is Warren even still at school?" asked Layla in a low tone.

"He could be," Ethan whispered, "I saw him go into the library after class. But why would they be looking for him in _this_ classroom?"

"Man, if only we could send, like, an SOS to him or something," Zach said.

Maj rolled her eyes. "_Hello! _If any of us had a power _that_ useful, we wouldn't be sidekicks."

This hushed conversation was overheard by the one person in the room who _could_ send a warning message of sorts. But Kate knew she had to be reasonably calm to be able to use her power, and calmness was _really_ not on her emotional agenda right then.

At that moment Mr. Boy's brave defense came to an abrupt end when he was thrown into the blackboard, unconscious. Kate knew she had to at least try.

She pressed her palms together and willed herself to relax. A few deep breaths later she opened her hands, releasing a small cloud of sparks which hovered over her palms and then coalesced into flames. Everybody in the room just stared as she looked deep into the fire and whispered 'Help'. One of the villains pulled back his hood and smirked.

Recognizing the pyro tattoo on his face, Ethan, whose super villain trading card collection was almost as extensive as his superhero one, whispered, "Incendiary."

The flames in Kate's hands re-formed into a small dragon which darted towards the door. Two of the villains threw fireballs at the fleeing construct, but it was far more agile and it ducked easily. The cloaked henchmen were angry that they couldn't prevent the animated distress signal from escaping – being pyrokinetics they had no control over someone else's fire.

Incendiary, however, appeared unconcerned. "Well, that little display saves me having to ask which one of you is Katherine Brody."

"You came here for _me_?" she asked, bewildered. What was going on?

The super villain seemed to be impressed by her power. "What were they _thinking_, dumping a talent like you with these pathetic losers?" Kate just stared at him as he settled himself in Mr. Boy's chair with his boots up on the desk and continued in an oily tone of voice, "Come here, dear. We need to have a little … chat."

* * *

Really, the security in this school left a lot to be desired. This was the second time in two years that the place was crawling with super villains. Okay, so last year it had been an inside job, but still.

Warren strode down the corridor towards the faculty lounge as quietly as his boots would allow. Halfway there he passed the detention room, and seeing the door completely melted shut made him try out a few more choice Oriental expletives under his breath. No points for guessing who was inside, and who had trapped them there. Understandably, biometric scanners didn't work so well when the whole door was fried from the outside, but he had to wonder just how his villainous relatives had managed to lure the teachers into the power neutralizing room to begin with.

It _really _hurt his pride, but it was probably time to call for outside assistance.

* * *

Will was busy stacking his parents' Complete Set of Hero Encyclopedias into a house of cards that almost reached the ceiling when his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and flipped his phone open, about to give a cheerful greeting but Warren cut in quickly.

"Will, I'm about to have a little _family reunion_ up here at school, and – "

Will dropped the encyclopedia he was holding and flew down to catch it before it hit the floor. "Your father broke out of jail?" he asked, concerned.

"Not that I know of," replied his friend, "But half a dozen of my less-than-favorite cousins have invaded the sidekick classroom, and no, I have no idea how they got here. Think your folks could come save the day like usual?"

"Uh, they're off saving the day already."

"From who?"

"I dunno," answered Will, putting the remaining encyclopedias away. Finishing the Leaning Tower of Heroes could wait for another time. "Some Big Trouble Downtown or something."

"Well, tell them to wrap it up quickly and get their red, white and blue asses up here!"

"Trouble is, they switch off their cell phones while they're on a distress call so they don't get distracted." Will accidentally bumped the carefully balanced encyclopedias and they began to topple. He quickly flew out of the room and down the stairs so that Warren wouldn't hear the books crashing over the phone. "I'll leave a message on their voicemail, but in the meantime _I_ can help."

"No offense man, but I think it's _their_ help we really need."

"But last year we – "

"Will, this isn't Royal Pest and her modified Super Soaker," Warren snapped a bit impatiently, "Now could you stop wasting time and get your folks here?"

With that the line went dead. Will tried calling his parents, but sure enough there was no answer. He didn't bother leaving a message. By the time they got it, it would probably be too late. He would have to find them and tell them what was going on in person.

But that would involve going flying in broad daylight with no costume, which was guaranteed to make his folks flip out even if it was for a good cause.

On second thought, maybe all he needed was some kind of disguise, like a Zorro-type mask. Not that he had time to go searching for something like that, so he would have to make do with grabbing the baseball cap off the back of his door and digging up a pair of aviator sunglasses. He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and he had to admit the sunglasses made a pretty cool disguise…

* * *

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to Will that his parents already had the situation in hand when he arrived on the scene. After all, they _were_ the greatest superheroes on the planet.

"What are you doing here?" asked Josie while Steve looked skeptically at Will's 'disguise' and then went back to tying up the would-be hijackers with scrap metal.

"There's trouble at Sky High, and they need your help," Will said.

"The school is the safest place on the planet," stated Steve and paused to smile for a photograph while Will ducked out of sight, "They couldn't possibly need _our _help."

"Would _Warren_ ask for help unless things were pretty desperate?" Will challenged from his hiding place.

"He has a point," Josie said to her husband out of the corner of her mouth while posing for another photo.

"Plus, he called me by my first name. Twice."

"What does that prove?" asked Steve.

"Never mind," replied Will. The two superheroes handed the criminals over to the police and the Strongholds ducked into a nearby alley to continue their discussion in private. "The thing is, Dad, there's six flame-throwing villains answering to the name of Battle running around the school right now. We're gonna need some of those cool power-neutralizing restraints and we – "

Josie cut him off. "Wait a minute, Will. There is no 'we'."

"Your mother's right," agreed Steve, "If it really is _that_ kind of trouble, you're going straight home."

Will looked at his parents in disbelief. What next, were they going to send him to his room without supper unless he picked up all his toys? "You know, I'll just follow you anyway," he pointed out.

* * *

"What do you _mean_, your father wasn't the hero Fire-Trainer?"

Incendiary stared at her across Mr. Boy's desk and she stared back defiantly despite the fact that she was standing right in front of the desk, guarded by two of his henchmen. Once she had gotten over her initial fear, she realized there was no need to be so scared of these men considering their fire power couldn't hurt her. Her friends, however, were more in danger, and it was for their sakes that she answered his questions.

"Fire-Trainer was my uncle," she replied, "Neither of my parents have powers, or my older brother."

One of Incendiary's henchmen who was standing near the blackboard spoke up. "I _told_ you that database Arson hacked into was dodgy! That kid thinks he's – "

"Fahrenheit?" interrupted Incendiary in the fake-pleasant tone of someone making a special effort to stay calm.

"Yeah, boss?"

"Do you _want _me to throw you off the edge of this overgrown flying saucer?"

"No, boss," mumbled the villain called Fahrenheit, but it was evidently a rhetorical question, as Incendiary had already turned his attention back to Kate. He took his feet off the desk and leant towards her.

"Grandparents?" he continued his interrogation.

"It comes from my grandmother," replied Kate reluctantly.

"And her siblings?"

"No, she was the only one."

"Grandparents on the other side?"

"None of them." Where was this line of questioning going?

The villain appeared to think for a bit, and then he got up. "Well, it was nice talking to you, dear, but I'm afraid your breeding is hopelessly inferior so I doubt you'll be making the call-back audition. However, I have no doubt we'll meet again sometime in the future, when you're out trying to save the world while trailing after some hero in tights. Until then…"

He swept around with a flourish of his cloak, only to find Warren standing in the doorway, which rather spoilt his dramatic exit.

"Going somewhere?" asked the younger pyro, leaning with his hands on either side of the doorway.

"Well, little cousin Warren," sneered Incendiary, "Nice of you to join us."

"Join you? I think not."

"Stand aside, hero-boy."

"No," replied Warren calmly. He had to play for time until the cavalry arrived, because there was no way he was just going to let them leave, even if Kate was no longer in danger from them. "Any more stupid suggestions?"

Incendiary didn't seem too impressed with his attitude. "Don't make me hurt these _dear_ friends of yours," he threatened and ignited one hand.

"Well, isn't this a cliché." Warren stepped into the classroom and closed the door behind him.

The villain ignited the other hand with an evil grin which faded as all of his fire was extinguished. The confused henchmen glanced at each other nervously, but Incendiary seemed to realize the significance of what had just happened.

"Well, well. So Uncle Barron's little experiment was … successful."

* * *

When the three Strongholds arrived, Warren was holding his own quite well considering the odds. Of course, with his second power he had quite an advantage, however he couldn't keep tabs on all of the villains at the same time.

The classroom wasn't faring so well under the barrage of fire, but the students were reasonably safe where they were cowering in the corner. Kate, the only other pupil who was invulnerable to fire, was acting as goalkeeper for any stray fireballs that shot in their direction.

The male Strongholds waded into the mêlée while Josie stayed a bit on the periphery, not being fireproof like Steve and Will, although her super-suit protected her to a certain extent.

"Hey Warren," greeted Will, punching out one of the villains, "Thought you could use a hand."

"Thanks." Warren blasted another with a fireball. "Your response time needs work though."

"Yeah, we'll need to do something about that one day when we're in the field," Will agreed as his father hit another of the intruders through the wall and then went to go fetch him.

It was all over quite quickly. Next thing they knew, Steve was handcuffing the villains with heavy power-neutralizing restraints while Josie called Nurse Spex for Mr. Boy and the bus driver. Will went over to check on Kate and the other sidekicks and Warren sat on a desk, trying to get his breath back.

"I thought you said there were six of them." Steve held up the sixth restraint.

Warren looked around. Damn. "There were," he said darkly, "Incendiary must have escaped."

Just then Layla came up to him. "Shame, Warren. It's not fair," she teased lightly. He raised his eyebrows. "I mean, you do most of the work and he gets the girl." She nodded to where Will was talking animatedly to Kate.

Warren shrugged. "He can have her. For today I'll just pretend I'm his sidekick."

Layla was about to respond to his dry comment when the others came over to them.

"Thanks, Warren," said Kate. He acknowledged it with a slight smile and nod. She went on, "By the way, that's really cool, what you can do."

"You too."

"What exactly _is_ your power?" Ethan asked Kate curiously.

Warren answered for her. "Pyro-construction. An extremely rare aspect of your favorite little theory about me." Although, to be fair, it had been a couple of months since Ethan had last gone on about fire elementals.

The others were looking confused, so Kate decided the best way was to show them. She pressed her palms together, and then opened her hands to release the sparks which melted together to form a small fiery dragon.

"I can create flame constructs," she explained as it flew between her and Warren, the only other person who could handle it, while the others backed away from the heat a little. "It's a creature forged from fire that does whatever I tell it to."

"That's totally awesome!" Zach raved. Warren held out a hand in the construct's flight path and it flew through his outspread fingers. It felt a bit like dipping your hand in a stream of running water.

"Boomer didn't think so," replied Kate, referring to the fact that she was in hero support.

"Shows how much he knows." Ethan was completely in awe of the fiery animation.

"Hold on a sec," Magenta said, "You were in Power Placement with us. Humiliating experience aside, I think I would have remembered someone creating fire … whatevers."

"Flame constructs. And you didn't see anything at Power Placement because I was so nervous I messed up and all I could do was make a few sparks. And before anybody says it, I know, I can't blame him for sidekicking me. But I managed to convince Principal Powers to let me do Placement again at the beginning of this year. I made a perfectly good construct and he still said it was a useless parlor trick."

"Of course he did," commented Warren, "Or he'd have to admit he was wrong."

Layla exclaimed, "One day they'll all have to admit that the whole system is wrong!"

Will and Warren exchanged a look that said Here-we-go-again. Not that they disagreed with her in the slightest, but they'd heard it all before. It was an unfortunate fact that, despite what the Commander and Jetstream had said at their infamous freshman Homecoming, the hero-sidekick dichotomy prevailed. It takes a long time for that kind of mindset to change.

Warren decided it was time to leave. "Later, kids. See you around, Sparky."

"'Sparky'?" repeated Kate as Warren walked off.

"Warren has this thing for nicknames," Layla explained, "It's a sign of affection."

"Yeah right, _Hippie_," teased Maj.

"So I'm stuck with being 'Sparky' forever then?"

"Better than 'Neon Boy'," said Zach.

"Which is better than the last one he had for you," put in Will with a grin.

Kate asked, "What was that?"

"You don't want to know," Zach muttered darkly, "No, really."

Magenta, having noticed Warren and Steve Stronghold just outside the door, apparently having some sort of serious conversation, nodded towards them and said, "I'd like to know what _that's_ all about. No, _really_."

As the rest turned to look, Steve put a hand on Warren's shoulder and said something that made the pyro smile slightly.

* * *

_A/N: Well, hope it was worth the wait…_


	6. Chapter 6: Past, Present and Future

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney._

**Chapter 6: Past, Present and Future**

"Later, kids. See you around, Sparky."

Warren walked off, smirking slightly at the ensuing conversation behind him. He was just outside the door when Stronghold Senior caught up with him.

"Warren, don't take it too hard that Incendiary escaped," he said, "You know, even fully qualified heroes haven't been able to capture him and he's been on the Most Wanted List since he became the Battle godfather's right hand man."

"Yeah," replied Warren, not really comforted.

Steve paused and cleared his throat before cautiously asking the question he was a little concerned about, "You don't know what that was actually all about, do you?"

"More of the Battle family's search for fire elemental breeding stock," Warren's tone was harsh, "But don't worry, they already decided they were only window shopping before you guys showed up, so she should be safe from their … little experiments."

This took Steve a bit by surprise. It seemed that Warren knew more about what his father had done than he realized. All that the official records and the Hero History textbooks said was that Barron Battle, a.k.a. Combustion, was a super villain and a traitor. However, Steve and Josie didn't report one particular aspect that was revealed the night they took Battle into custody…

* * *

Warren had just got his powers and Barron had been so eager to pass the information on to his super villain superiors that he'd been careless. Finally, the Commander and Jetstream had the evidence they had been searching for – there _was_ a mole among the superhero ranks, but it was the last person they had ever suspected.

It was the last person Zoë Peace had ever suspected either.

"Tell them it's not true," she cried as the heroes put him in power-neutralizing restraints, "Barron?"

He looked at her, finally dropping the façade he'd kept up for so long.

In his hard eyes, she saw the truth and broke down. "No. No!"

His expression softened briefly. "I'm sorry, Zoë," he said quietly, "You are a wonderful woman, but I was not permitted to love you."

"So." She swallowed hard and made an effort to compose herself. "All these years of the Oscar winning performance as the charming reformed villain who'd renounced his evil upbringing – what was the purpose of all that?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Steve said, "He's been passing them information. That's what a mole does."

Barron scoffed, "You're so small-minded, Stronghold. This is far bigger than just that."

"Oh really?" Steve challenged, "And what _do_ super villains rate as bigger than treason these days?"

"A brilliant genetic experiment."

A beat of silence followed that simple statement.

Then the pyro-psionic hero narrowed her eyes. "Our son is your experiment?" Steve and Josie shared a glance, but neither was sure what was going on. Zoë took several deep breaths, murmuring to herself, "I can't believe I was so blind. It should have been so obvious."

"Zoë?" asked Josie gently.

She turned to the heroes and explained, "The real reason why he married me was to combine my type of fire power with his, to try to produce a child that was … " she fixed Barron with an accusing stare, "… _a fire elemental!_"

There was another tense pause as Zoë just looked intently at the former love of her life, who gave a slow condescending nod to show her conclusion was correct.

Josie caught on. "But everybody knows powers aren't automatically inherited."

"Yes, that's why I called it an 'experiment', you silly girl," sneered Battle sarcastically, "An effort to overcome the odds."

"Try overcoming these odds, you bastard," Zoë spoke with cold fury, "Your experiment is over. You will never see Warren again. And we will bring down your whole damn family, one by one if necessary. We will make sure that the Battle family will _never_ create a fire elemental for their own evil purposes."

Barron Battle turned to Steve. "You'll pay for this, Stronghold!"

* * *

Warren had been taken to another superhero's house to prevent him from witnessing that scene. He had been nine years old, and to him Barron had been a great dad. But maybe if the heroes hadn't tried to spare him the pain of finding out what he actually meant to his father, he wouldn't have spent so long blaming the Commander for breaking up his happy family.

That arrest had stuck in Steve's mind ever since. For a while he'd even been afraid that Warren might be befriending his son for similar reasons to Barron being friends – and often rivals – with Steve at school, particularly considering Warren no longer had his mother's positive influence. Both Josie and Will (although his son didn't know the whole story, of course) prevailed on him to at least give the young pyro a chance.

Which he did, if rather reluctantly at first. And today's face-off had just been the final proof of Warren's loyalties.

There was only one thing he could think of to say. He placed a hand on Warren's shoulder.

"Your mother would be proud of you."

* * *

"Come on, Stronghold. It can't take you _that_ long to decide whether you have a card to play."

Will looked up from his cards quickly. His mind was miles away from the Uno game the two of them were playing in his living room. Warren regarded him with mild impatience from the opposite couch as he looked back at his cards, actually seeing them this time.

"So," he played a blue 9, "That was quite a bust yesterday. Even if Incendiary escaped."

Warren followed with a red 9. "They were a bunch of stupid thugs. The real danger is still out there."

"My dad said they were quite important agents." Will put down a red 6.

"Okay, so they were _senior_ stupid thugs. Takes more than busting a few of them to take down the whole family business," answered Warren, playing a red Draw 2. Will drew two cards and mock-glared at his friend who didn't look the slightest bit apologetic. Warren continued, "Good thing they decided they didn't want Kate or she'd have to go into hiding or something."

"Well, I wouldn't mind, you know, protecting her if she needs it." Will's tone was deliberately casual as he played one of the cards he'd drawn.

"I'm sure you wouldn't," remarked Warren dryly, eyeing his own cards.

There was a pause while Will thought for a bit and Warren reluctantly drew a card, having nothing in his hand to play.

Will asked lightly, "So, do you think she'd go out with me?"

For a moment Warren was tempted to tell him that Kate was in love with Zach, or maybe even Warren himself, but the memory of the last time Will hit him suddenly came to mind and he decided that he wasn't really in the mood to go flying. He was about to tell him the truth when Will, having misinterpreted his hesitation, spoke up.

"Wait a minute, _you_ like her. You do, don't you? Well, don't worry, I won't – "

"Relax, Flyboy," his friend interrupted, "Just 'cos she's the only pyro I've met who isn't either related to me or a jerk, it doesn't mean I automatically have some sort of cosmic connection with her."

Will, however, was not really listening and obviously quite positive he was on the right track. "But you guys can communicate through her flame thingies, I'd say that's quite a connection."

"Unless I suddenly develop pyro-construction," and Warren's tone indicated just how likely he thought _that _was, "the conversations will tend to be a bit one-sided. But in answer to your question, yeah I'm pretty sure she'll go out with you."

Will played a card and gave his friend a quick glance. "How do you know?"

"Dude, half the female population of Sky High is into you. I'd say that gives you roughly a 50 percent chance."

"Even odds, huh? Not too bad."

Just then Warren noticed that, like him, Will had only two cards left. "About the same as your chances of winning this game." He put down his second to last card. "_Uno_."

"Don't get too full of yourself just 'cos you won the last three rounds," advised Will and smugly played a Draw 2, leaving him with only one card in his hand. "_Uno_," he added quickly.

Warren took two cards and looked at them with his eyebrows slightly raised.

"_Now_ who's taking forever to decide if he has a card to play?" Will challenged.

"I don't," Warren said after a moment's deliberation, and drew another card.

"Ha!" Will triumphantly played his last card and grinned. "So, what was that you were saying about my chances of winning?"

Warren looked amused. "Well, Stronghold, seems the odds are also in your favor for getting Kate to go with you to that Spring Formal thing."

And he re-shuffled the cards, carefully hiding the one he had intentionally not played.

It was a Draw 4 wild card.

After all, he'd just won three games in a row. He could afford to be generous.

* * *

Layla really wasn't sure why the sight bothered her. She honestly believed she was over Will, so she had no business being upset that he and Kate were dancing together and looking very happy about it. There _was_ a possibility she was feeling like a bit of a wallflower, standing next to the punch table by herself, but then again, that was mostly her own fault.

Warren had suggested boycotting the Spring Formal, but she'd wanted to go, for some reason she couldn't quite remember now. She'd even managed to convince him to come along and keep her company.

She looked at Will and Kate again, and frowned, trying to work out what was bugging her.

"I thought you were 'totally over him'?" teased a deep voice from behind her.

"I am," she replied, not turning around to look at him.

Warren stood next to her with his hands in his pockets. "Right, like you told me you like her."

"I do," she answered, still not looking at him at they stood side by side. "I've been friends with her for the past two years."

"Hmm. Good thing you decided that you like her _before_ Stronghold started showing romantic interest."

"For your information, I _do _like her and I _am_ over him. I really don't know why this bothers me so much."

Warren studied her for a while, and then said gently, "I don't suppose you feel a little let down that _he's_ over _you_?"

Layla sighed. That was exactly her problem. And he'd worked it out so easily. "I guess part of me would be kind of flattered if he was pining away for me or something," she admitted and finally turned to look at him. "Pathetic, aren't I?"

"Not unless you start threatening to string her up in vines."

She smiled slightly, relieved that he didn't seem to consider her as childish as she knew she was being. She turned to watch Will and Kate dancing, and replied, "Been there, done that. How about something more original, like a pit of man-eating carnivorous plants?"

Warren raised his eyebrows. "I thought you didn't believe in using your powers for violence."

"I don't." She gave him a mischievous look and continued airily, "But there's no such thing as a man-eating plant, so it was an empty threat anyway."

"And therefore you didn't compromise your beliefs, right?"

Layla smiled up at him, a much more genuine smile this time. It was time for a new topic of conversation. "I suppose it would be asking too much to expect you to dance with me?" she asked sweetly.

"Don't push your luck, Hippie," Warren gave her a mock scowl, but nonetheless led her onto the dance floor.

Really, the things he put up with…

_

* * *

A/N: Don't worry, it isn't over … it's only just getting started! I have split the story into two parts because there is a time jump of a few years between this chapter and the next. So, stay tuned for the second part, Phoenix Rising, coming in about two weeks._


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